It feels like ancient history amid the coronavirus pandemic, but it was only a few years ago that the Supreme Court case pitting Christian baker Jack Phillips against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission captured the national imagination and sparked a debate over religious liberty and gay rights. Phillips won that case due to the overt “religious animus” in the Colorado government’s actions against him. Yet, due to the narrow scope of its ruling, Phillips was in court once again last week.
On Thursday, Phillips and his attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom asked a state court to dismiss a case brought against them not by the state of Colorado, which after years has seemingly given up on persecuting the Christian baker, but by an angry transgender lawyer and activist now pursuing him for declining to make a cake explicitly celebrating gender transition.
This whole affair is deeply disturbing. More importantly, it shows once again that many in the activist Left, particularly, self-described gay and transgender advocates, no longer seek the noble goals of equality or dignity but rather punishment and humiliation for religious holdouts who do not fully embrace their dogma.
First, let’s recap the facts: Phillips has always happily served customers of all races, classes, sexual orientations, and gender identities in his bakery. A gay man like myself could walk into his store and buy a cookie or a cupcake any time, or even a pre-made wedding cake. The only thing Phillips refused to do was specifically design and create cakes that convey or endorse ideological messages he profoundly disagrees with — for example, a customized cake for a wedding between two men. In this, he cited his First Amendment right to be free from compelled speech; the same right someone like me would want to have to decline making a custom cake that says “burn all the gays.”
As a result, Phillips was met with years of national scorn, vilification in the liberal press, death threats, hate mail, and financial ruin. He lost 40% of his business and had to fire much of his staff. Today, he struggles even to keep his business open.
The disproportionate consequences Phillips had to bear merely for defending his rights in court were bad enough, but now continuing to pepper him with lawsuits even after he was vindicated by the Supreme Court?
This is simply beyond the pale of what any level-headed person, even a liberal supportive of gay and transgender rights, can call reasonable. It’s vindictive and nasty, too. Of course, the transgender activist now persecuting Phillips didn’t simply happen upon his bakery by coincidence. And who has even heard of a transition celebration cake?
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